Staying in the Veneto region over an extended period provided lots of opportunities to meet with relatives connected to the Veneto market gardeners’ oral history project. We also made connections with other people born in Australia and who now live in the province of Treviso.
The image above is of the statue of Giorgioni, born in Castelfranco Veneto (1478 – 1510) a painter of the Venetian school. The statue is a landmark in front of the walls of the historic centre of Castelfranco Veneto.
100 years of connections
Connections between the Veneto market gardeners and Adelaide began 100 years ago when Francesco and Margherita Marchioro arrived in February 1926 with their baby, Mary. By January 1928 15 other men from the Veneto region including a second Marchioro brother, Vittorio had arrived in Adelaide. After the first difficult years of finding work, the men established themselves as market gardeners in the western suburbs of Adelaide in the 1930s.
The Marchioro link is maintained today by descendants of Francesco and Vittorio Marchioro in the Veneto region and Adelaide.
Monica Urbani is a cousin to the Marchioro families in Adelaide, and in early June, we visited her and her husband Joe Chiumento, in Monte di Malo in the province of Vicenza. Monica’s second cousin, Johnny Marchioro, had helped me to start the Veneto market gardeners’ oral history project when he began introducing his friends and relatives in Adelaide in 2007.
The following year, Johnny was the first person I interviewed and I learned that he had maintained close contact with his relatives in Malo and Monte di Malo where Johnny parents had been born. [See Marchioro families on the website
In 2018 when I was in the Veneto region researching for my PhD Monica had organised a meeting with the archivist in the Malo comune (or council) and we found documents about the Marchioro family in the archives. I also recorded an interview with Joe Chiumento who had been born in Wollongong. You can access his interview here through the State Library of South Australia: https://digital.collections.slsa.sa.gov.au/nodes/view/8210
Connections with people born in Australia
In 2018, I was fortunate to meet several people who had been born in Australia and who were now living in the Veneto region close to Castelfranco Veneto. They were interested in telling their stories and their strong connections to their country of birth.
One woman, Ermenegilda Simeoni had arrived in Australia to marry and lived close to some of the market gardener families between 1951 and 1967 when Ermenegilda, her husband and children returned to Italy.
The Aussie girls’ group – Castelfranco Veneto
Three of the women I interviewed were members of a network called ‘the Aussie Girls Group’ that was created in 1991 by Madeleine Mocenigo who was born in Melbourne in 1951 and Rosanna Bin who was born in Mareeba, Far North Queensland in 1963. They had both married men from the Veneto region and were living near Castelfranco Veneto when they discovered that there were other young women born in Australia and who had met their husbands in the Castelfranco Veneto area.
Nevea Antonello had been born in Adelaide in 1955 and went to live in Italy in 1971 with her parents and two younger sisters. She joined the Aussie Girls Group after hearing about it from a neighbour in about 1993. Nevea made her first trip back to Adelaide in early 2018 with her daughter, Silvia, and felt as though she was “coming back home.”
The women were interested to meet up and talk English and share their stories. The group grew to about 40 (almost all women) who are part of the network and meet regularly to share meals and visits to different places like Venice or Padua – and the focus is always speaking English!
In 2018 I interviewed three members of the Aussie Girls’ Group, Nevea Antonello, Rosanna Bin and Madeleine Mocenigo. This time, we met a couple of times to talk about their interviews and transcripts.
Rosanna Bin reflected on the beginning of the group in her interview:
Wow, this five of us Aussie girls together… So, we had our first official dinner and there was five of us. And from there, it just took off… I met other Australian girls who knew other Australian girls. And the group got quite large, over a period of five years. I would say that the group got quite large and then one dinner, I think there was about 40 of us… Even now, there’s probably 20 of us girls that get together [for] our official dinners. Rosanna Bin, OH/50 7 October 2018 pp 29-30.
In her interview Madeleine Mocenigo spoke about the changes over the 35 years that the group has been going – the ease of communicating with members in the group through WhatsApp: With WhatsApp, it’s come easier. We write, ‘Remember, girls, there’s this. Who wants to come? Let so and so know.’ Before, we had to ring… Or sometimes they write, ‘Is there anything going on for the first Saturday of the month?’… So, with WhatsApp it has become easier. Madeleine Mocenigo OH 872/51 7 October 1918, p 59.
Nevea Antonello explained in her interview the kinds of activities that the Aussie Girls Group shares: Well, it’s nice just chatting, and exchanging recipes, or just talking… keeping up with all the news, also from Australia, who listens to the Australian radio channels — and it’s like getting together. Instead of talking in Italian, we’re talking in English. It’s Aussies! … We think it’s always to keep up … part of our background… in the end we are Aussies. [laughs]
Nevea Antonello OH 872/49, 28 September 2018, p 21, 23.
You can access the recordings of the interviews through the Digital Collections section of the State Library of South Australia:
https://digital.collections.slsa.sa.gov.au/
Once you open the web page, you can use the Search function on the left-hand side of the page and enter the surname of the person.
The connection of language
We were invited to participate in an English conversation class for adults through Associazione Pensionati Giorgione, an organisation in Castelfranco Veneto like the University of the Third Age The connection developed in this way – we had met Luisa and Patrizio Carraro whose family had lived between Riese Pio X and Adelaide over several years.
Luisa is a member of the Associazione Pensionati Giorgione and she thought we could be guest ‘teachers.’ She contacted the organisers, Stefania Campagnaro and Ennio Favero whom we met and agreed on a date for our class.
In the lesson, Alex and I spoke about our respective backgrounds and explained the context of Adelaide and South Australia. When we asked the ‘students’ why they were interested in learning English, several said they were curious and wanted to develop their skills in retirement. One woman had lived in England when she was young and wanted to improve her fluency. Another woman had a daughter who lived in England with her husband and small daughter and she wanted to be able to speak English when she visited the family. It was an enjoyable experience to spend time with people who wanted to extend their English conversation.
Other Australian connections
Other people I interviewed in 2017 – 2018 included three women and one man who were all born in Adelaide and went to live in the Veneto region when their parents returned to live in Italy:
- Gabriella Antonini – now lives near Valdobbiadene
- Elisabetta Pastro – now lives in Riese Pio X
- Irene Zampin – now lives in Caselle di Altivole
- Remo Berno – now lives in Riese Pio X.
Natalina Bello was another interviewee. She was born in Adelaide and went to stay with relatives in Bigolino when she was 25 years old. Natalina and her husband and family live in Valdobbiadene. I also interviewed Vivian Miotto who was born in Adelaide and lives in San Pietro di Feletto near Conegliano.
You can access the recordings of the interviews through the Digital Collections section of the State Library of South Australia:
https://digital.collections.slsa.sa.gov.au/
Once you open the web page, you can use the Search function on the left-hand side of the page and enter the surname of the person.
An Australian connection to a pasticceria
I had heard that there was a pasticceria (pastry shop) close to the centre of Castelfranco Veneto that was established in 1957. I learned that one of the owners had connections to Australia and one day when I visited the shop, I met Mirella Novello who had been born in Newcastle.
She and her parents and her brother moved to Castelfranco Veneto in 1970 when she was nearly 13 years old. She began working with the Zorzi family in 1979 and married son, Valter in 1980. Today, the family work together – Mirella and Valter and their two sons, Simone and Fabio. The almond tarts were delicious!
Connections to plants
I was surprised to discover two examples of Australian flora in and near Castelfranco Veneto. In Citadella, (13 kms from Castelfranco Veneto) I saw a window box with Kangaroo Paws.
Beneath the old city walls in Castelfranco Veneto, I was taken aback when I spied a Callistemon or bottle brush with its brilliant red flowers
Further snapshots
Today it is possible to walk along part of the walls that date back to the late 15th century and surround the historic centre of Castelfranco Veneto. It is a wonderful vantage point – 17 metres above ground and when we climbed up to the walls, it was near the end of the market and below we could see the canopies of the stall holders’ vans.
How could I complete a blog about Castelfranco Veneto without referring to food? The abundance of fresh food sold at the market on Tuesdays and Fridays is wonderful! Inside the city walls the bars, cafes and restaurants are always well patronised. And the gelati shops were in business and offered a great variety of flavours that reflected the season of ripening fruits.
The Fighera family in Adelaide is connected to the Fighera orchard in Valla’, near Castelfranco Veneto.
The significance of land
When we first arrived in Castelfranco Veneto, farmers were preparing the soil for growing corn, and some people had started their vegetable gardens. In the time that we stayed there we saw the crops grow and the summer vegetables thrive. The importance of food production is evident in the area around Castelfranco Veneto.
The large scale plantings of vegetables and corn crops reminded me of the Veneto families in the Kidman Park and Flinders Park suburbs of Adelaide. I think of their initiative, resourcefulness and vision to establish market gardens in the 1930s – and their legacy of forging strong family connections between Adelaide and the Veneto region that began a century ago.
Acknowledgment of Armida Mattiazzo
Armida Mattiazzo died on 30 May 2026. She was born in Ponzano Veneto in 1928 and arrived in Australia in 1952 and spent time with her husband a few weeks after their marriage on a mica mine in the remote Harts Range in Northern Territory. In Adelaide, she grew tomatoes in glasshouses in the Lockleys area for several years. Armida was interviewed twice for the Veneto market gardeners’ oral history project. You can listen to her interviews in Italian using this link:
https://digital.collections.slsa.sa.gov.au/nodes/view/8253
Madeleine Regan
15 June 2026
Once again lovely connecting stories Madeleine – thoroughly enjoyed this blog!
Thank you, Mandy. I’m pleased that you enjoyed reading about the connections I found in the Veneto region.